America’s Unwritten Constitution presents a bold new vision of the American constitutional system, one in which proper interpretation of the Constitution rests on the interplay between its written and unwritten manifestations, but in which interpretation does not, and cannot, depend wholly on one form or the other. Neither America’s written Constitution nor its unwritten Constitution stands alone, Amar shows, and with each eye-opening example he develops a deeper, more compelling way of thinking about constitutional law than has ever been put forth before—a methodology that looks past the basic text to reveal the diverse influences, supplements, and possibilities that comprise it.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Washington PostIn America’s Unwritten Constitution, Akhil Reed Amar aims high and has produced a masterful, readable book that constitutes one of the best, most creative treatments of the U.S. Constitution in decades. [The book] is filled with thought-provoking material and fun vignettes, suitable for a wide audience . Amar’s approach is refreshing . Amar makes a creative case that America’s written Constitution and its unwritten Constitution, since the beginning of the nation, have fit snugly together to form a single, more perfect union.”

Wall Street JournalAkhil Reed Amar is a rarity: a progressive law professor who is unafraid of the text of the Constitution . In his ambitious new book, America’s Unwritten Constitution, he examines the paradox of needing to go beyond the text in order to faithfully follow the text . His is a holistic’ interpretation, one that rejects reading passages or clauses of the text in isolation from the document as a whole. He is masterfully creative in finding overarching themes that tie the disparate clauses together in novel and sometimes counterintuitive ways . A highly engaging and thought-provoking book.”

New York Times Book ReviewIn America’s Unwritten Constitution, Akhil Reed Amar, a commendably unorthodox and, in some ways, iconoclastic constitutional scholar at Yale Law School, bucks dominant opinions on both sides of the political spectrum. He contends that the written Constitution points to an unwritten one, and he argues that we can interpret with both intellectual honesty and analytical rigor.”

Boston GlobeThe Constitution has been described as both binding law and aspirational treatise . Akhil Amar, a Yale law professor and one of contemporary America’s most brilliant constitutional scholars, [suggests] in his latest, and best, book, America’s Unwritten Constitution, that the issue is not an either-or’ question . As a lawyer and constitutional rights activist, I cannot imagine how anybody who cares about the law, and justice, which are not always the same thing, could fail to place this important book at the very top of the must-read list. It’s a gem.”

Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law SchoolAkhil Amar’s splendid new book, America’s Unwritten Constitution, combines an unmatched eye for detail with a unique capacity for overarching perspective and masterfully elegant synthesis. It is a wonderfully readable companion to Amar’s unparalleled earlier volume, America’s Constitution: A Biography. Together, these two works convey as little else can the majesty and sweep of America’s constitutional project.”

Ken Starr, President of Baylor University; Solicitor General of the United States, 1989-1993; Independent Counsel, 1994-1999In America’s Unwritten Constitution, Professor Amar adds to his already masterful bibliography what will instantly become a classic examination of constitutional law. As the Constitution itself stood in need of a seminal biography, so too the vast and varied domain of our Nation’s constitutional law cried out for a guidebook. Professor Amar has now brilliantly provided both.”

Richard Brookhiser, author of James MadisonAkhil Amar brings the patience of a historian, the ardor of a lover, and (yes, sometimes) the panache of a conjurer to America’s unwritten Constitution. If you want to argue with him, you will have to summon all these qualities yourself. This is a serious and provocative book.”

Steven G. Calabresi, Class of 1940 Research Professor, Northwestern University School of Law; Co-Founder of the Federalist SocietyThis book is brilliant, creative, ambitious, comprehensive, imaginative, and thought-provoking. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Constitutional Law.”

Nadine Strossen, Former President, American Civil Liberties Union; Professor, New York Law SchoolThis is an engrossing, epic work of enduring importancenot only a treasure trove for scholars of American law, history, and politics, but also an inspiring, empowering guidebook for activists. It compellingly demonstrates how to harness the Constitution’s full meaning in order to promote its thrilling vision of liberty and justice for all. No matter what your prior knowledge of this field, and no matter what your ideological perspective, this magnificent book will enhance your understanding and appreciation of our cherished Constitution. If I had to choose a single work to recommend to either my constitutional law students or my civil libertarian colleagues, this would be it.”

Kirkus Reviews[Amar lays] out his argument in case-by-case details that are scholarly and legalistic but always readable . [An] ingenious mixture of history, legal anecdotes and hypothetical cases.”

Publishers WeeklyYale law professor Amar follows his highly regarded historical-textual analysis of America’s Constitution with a companion volume on the history, culture, and legal tenets of the unwritten constitution,’ the traditions and precedents that inform constitutional interpretation . Sophisticated readers will be rewarded for traveling with Amar as he covers a great deal of ground.”

BooklistDeeply researched and carefully argued, this book is nothing less than a sophisticated and comprehensive theory of constitutional jurisprudence that resists being construed along narrow political lines. Indispensable for law students and scholars, this will also be enjoyed by general readers who are passionate about constitutional law.”

About the Author

Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and periodically serves as a visiting professor at Harvard, Columbia, and Pepperdine Law Schools. Amar is the author of four books, including America’s Constitution, which won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and The Bill of Rights, which was awarded a Silver Gavel Certificate of Merit. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Senior Scholar at the National Constitution Center, Amar is often cited by the Supreme Court and is a frequent expert witness in Congressional hearings.

Top customer reviews

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Like another reviewer here, I bought this Kindle book on the strength of Akhil Reed Amar's other book, "America's Constitution: A Biography." Er, no problem with the use of "America" in either of these titles. These two books really should be read sequentially, starting with Biography. In Biography, Reed goes word for word through the "terse text." In Unwritten, he shows how the various Constitutions -- implicit, lived, symbolic, etc. -- flesh out and strengthen the words of the document itself.

While reading this book I was mulling the thought of subtracting a star due to a tendency of the author to get a little too far down in the weeds. And then I came to Chapter 6, "Honoring the Icons: America's Symbolic Constitution." This chapter examines six texts -- no spoilers here but at least one of them will surprise you -- that illustrate not just the Constitution but what it means to be an American. Another part of this chapter -- on the three Supreme Court cases that deserve to be in the SCOTUS Hall of Shame (my words, not his) is similarly insightful. This chapter is worth being issued as a Kindle-single edition.

Akhil Reed Amar's writing throughout is lawyerly but elegant (check out the Look Inside feature to confirm). The book is written for a layperson, not a lawyer, with ample, clear definitions of important terms. Yes, Amar should be on the Supreme Court. Maybe he's been asked, but why would he give up a tenured gig at Yale to come down to Washington, even if a seat on the Supreme Court is tenured as well?

Buy both of these books and read them carefully. You will emerge with a greater understanding of the document and our society. And speaking of Biography, I've given my hard-copy version to a friend and replacing it with the Kindle version. Both books deserve re-reading.

In his follow up to America’s Constitution: A Biography, Professor Amar explores the vague parts of the Constitution and how it has worked in our history. As we know from our history, the Constitution itself is a framework for the government to work in. Much of what constitutes our working system of government was devised after the ratification of the Constitution and is at times like Professor Amar states, unwritten. He also used this book as the foundation text for a course on the Coursera MOOC platform in which he gave lectures on each chapter. The course and the book worked well together in presenting a view of America’s legal system which we often do not understand.

The book is a very good book although it is a bit of a dry read at times. Legal students will fare very well with the book as will graduate students or students studying legal history. I definitely would not assign this to first or second year undergraduates as a standalone work. For a course on the Constitution it would be useful when used in conjunction with its twin. The concepts of the unwritten Constitution can be difficult to perceive, but they definitely exist. This is where students will have some difficulty in developing an understanding.

Politically, the book seems to work its way down the middle. Amar makes no major against the grain stances against the Supreme Court and its rulings such as Citizen’s United, etc. He does address exclusionary evidence and how some majority opinions seem to have been correct, but used the wrong precedents in establishing the legality of them. He offers no wild-eyed sermons on modern political thought, but instead works within the confines of the established legal system and thought. I found that to be refreshing.

Amar himself has been an expert witness in congressional hearings and has been cited by the Supreme Court itself in its rulings. As a professor of law at Yale, Harvard, and Pepperdine, his research into the Constitution and America’s legal system has enabled him to enjoy a somewhat privileged view of the Constitution in both its purpose in 1787 through today and its application in the future. I found it interesting that he pointed out far more possibilities under the Constitution than impossibilities. Some of the things he brought up were certainly plausible whether I liked the idea of them or not. That was refreshing.

Amar’s exploration of the precedents involved in our system of government is something that is worth considering. The use of Blackstone’s legal texts is just as relevant today as they were in 1787. That is something I had never considered, but something that Amar as a legal scholar would obviously see as critical to our understanding of the law. That is why having multiple perspectives from experts helps as more minds are searching for answers to present to us. All in all, while not a five star book, this is definitely more than a four star volume.

I was very surprised and often flabbergasted reading this book. Just one example: the author writes about the judicially-granted Sixth Amendment right of persons charged with a crime to be represented by counsel as if it were truly meaningful, although anyone who has practiced law for a year or longer knows that prosecutors have to handle very few cases compared to public defenders, and have enormously greater resources at their disposal. According to the Washington State Bar Bulletin in 2006, public defenders representing defendants charged with felonies could only devote a total of 1.5 hours to each of their clients (yes, in felony cases). And their funding has been cut since then. Writing about parity of legal processes for defendants and prosecutors under such circumstances strikes me as actually obscene. The author repeatedly mentions the likelihood of criminal defendants lying in court. Without saying so explicitly, he shares the same bias as a super-majority of jurors who lie during voir dire, when they tell judges that they agree with the concept that a defendant must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but almost always state nonchalantly in post trial-surveys that of course they assumed the defendant was guilty, because the police would not have charged the defendant with a crime otherwise. I have not finished the book yet, but I doubt the author mentions that most jurors in criminal trials are heavily biased toward police officers, and either do not know or do not care that police officers routinely commit perjury while testifying under oath. I spent years representing plaintiffs in section 1983 cases against police officers, and frequently observed such misconduct. I also represented a couple of police officers who were falsely accused of official misconduct or falsely accused of crimes; e.g., an officer whose ex-wife falsely claimed he had raped her and that she was too terrified to live at her own house but had to live in hiding with a friend. As this was purportedly occurring, she repeatedly called the officer from her own house and shouted obscenities and threats to destroy his career into his answering machine. But because the press had already condemned the officer publicly, his department threw him to the wolves and fired him. The officers who testified against him committed perjury more times than I could count. They know that the law enforcement agency they work for is not going discipline them for lying under oath. That is just ONE of many such inaccuracies and biases in this book.